During the past twelve years, a course on critical care medicine has been sponsored by the Post Graduate Division of the University of Southern California School of Medicine in association with its Center for the Criti cally Ill. The content of each of the symposia has paralleled the evolution of critical care medicine as a recognized service specialty. The annual program was planned as a teaching session for physicians and allied medical personnel who sought to advance their involvement in this rapidly advancing field. A panel of highly regarded authorities on sub jects bearing on critical care medicine, faculty members of the USC School of Medicine, and staff members of our own Center for the Critically 111 at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center serve as faculty of these symposia. Although the primary commitment of the organizers to maintain this as a teaching and demonstration session was not abandoned, the number of annual registrants progressively increased from fewer than 100 to more than 1200, gradually outstripping local hotel facilities in central Los Angeles. The symposium for the past two years has been held in the large and at tractive Anaheim Convention Center adjacent to Disneyland.